


One Small Discover

by noveltea



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-17
Updated: 2010-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noveltea/pseuds/noveltea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse into Teyla's childhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Small Discover

As a child the opportunity to play, free from worry, simply did not exist.

Teyla had spent much of her childhood learning how to lead her people, following in her father's footsteps. Children were precious, but had to grow up too fast. They didn't know any other way of life, and so it did not seem so peculiar to them. Certainly not to Teyla.

Embracing life, in the manner which her community taught, she lived every moment as though it might be the last; a possibility that was very real. She grew up learning the stories of the past; how once, a very long time ago, they had been a great people.

She still believed they were a great people, even to this day, regardless of the results of the Wraith cullings. Great people were defined by their strength and conviction of character, not by the level of technology that they possessed.

The stories were deeply embedded in who she was, and she spent time trying to find pieces of the old times. Mostly all she found were imaginary relics; an idea to cling to that gave her hope. When she recalled her discoveries for her father, he told her that she found some of the most extraordinary things. He encouraged the strength that she found through the blending of history and her own imagination.

He encouraged anything that made her smile.

The best stories were the ones that her father told her at night, before she closed her eyes to sleep. The stories of her grandparents, and their parents and all their lineage back until the old days. The stories of the Ancestors, long disappeared from their galaxy. At night they prayed for them to return, one day, and to help drive away the Wraith forever.

Then they prayed for a good harvest, sometimes rain, and for the safety of their loved ones.

After her father passed into the next life, Teyla took up the mantle that had been prepared for her. She didn't believe she was near ready for the burden, but nothing in her life had waited for her to be ready. She had the support of the village elders, their respect for her so strong that she felt she didn't deserve it. They were her backbone, the people she could turn to when she felt some doubt.

But when she wanted hope, all she had to do was look inside to find the young girl who had been determined to uncover the lost past.

She offered up some small discovery.

Something to hold on to.


End file.
